Southampton entered a run of fixtures three weeks ago that promised so much, and the surprise team of the season so far haven’t disappointed. Their games against Sunderland, Stoke and Hull have yielded ten goals with none conceded, and there’s every chance that they could complete November as strongly as they ended October. Leicester and Villa, their next two fixtures, haven’t won a game in the same time frame. Villa have only scored once, and Leicester haven’t found the back of the net at all. Both going forward and at the back, based on their own form, and the form of the two teams they’re about to come up against, the Saints continue to offer the best chances of points returns and will be crucial to those teams chasing the manager of the month award.

It could all change though. Their December looks tough with City, Arsenal, Everton, United and Chelsea all left to play. A change in tactic might be necessary to get the best out of cheap and mid priced options, with one team in particular, already in good form, entering a phase of winnable fixtures.

West Ham’s stock has been on a steady rise since a narrow loss at United followed by three consecutive victories, which included the scalp of City. Their run of fixtures into December sees them entertain Villa, Newcastle, Swansea and Leicester, around winnable trips to West Brom and Sunderland. There maybe aren’t quite as many front to back options as there are in the Southampton team, but it’s no longer the case, as it has been in every other season for the Hammers, of having one of their players in your squad to make up the numbers. Their two main forwards are in among the goals and the bonuses. Diafra Sakho missed the trip to Stoke last week, but returns to partner Enner Valencia, who after a sluggish start, has registered goal, assist or bonus marks in five of his last seven appearances. Stewart Downing is bettered only by Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez in the midfielder standings. His form as earned him an England recall. Defensively, it’s more of a risk, but in Aaron Cresswell, they have a full back with assist potential. It’s two in the last three for him with a couple of bonuses thrown in.

The first five yellow card suspensions are beginning to take effect. Lee Cattermole, unsurprisingly, will miss this weekend after reaching five bookings in Sunderland’s last match. He wasn’t the first to be suspended however. Callum Chambers had reached that mark two gameweeks ago. The young Arsenal full back is free of any threat of a suspension for the time being and will hope to carry on where left off last week. One booking away from a suspension are, among others, Daryl Janmaat, Winston Reid, Jack Wilshere, Steven Naismith, and perhaps most notably, Cesc Fabregas.